The next day the three Duck Brothers woke up choosing violence. Huey was still pissed about losing his job, Louie was determined to pull off an even better scheme than yesterday's pitiful 20 dollars, and Dewey simply was chaos incarnate.
Donald must have sensed something boiling over within them because he was extra sappy at breakfast.
"I love all of you, I'm proud of you guys. You're gonna kill it at school today, go out and show the world how awesome the Duck family is." He was met with eye rolls and pained smiles, kissing his boys on the head before heading off to work.
Huey was in charge of getting his brothers on their respective school buses, though he almost missed the mark. Honestly, it had been hard enough making sure Dewey and Louie were wearing clothes, sending Dewey off in a Tony Hawk shirt that could use a wash, layered in his usual style, and Louie in a green dinosaur hoodie with spikes on the hood. Huey was wearing a red polo and his fleece-lined light blue denim jacket, and a red baseball cap. His jacket still smelled hauntingly of grease. Maybe it always would.
He was tired today, tired and angry, really more frustrated than anything. He hadn't had time to do his homework, trying instead to make sure his brothers did theirs. His hand still hurt from the burn, his heart still hurt from getting fired, and his brain hurt from a lack of sleep. He wanted to be a better student than this, but he just couldn't focus, couldn't think. And it made him so angry at himself and the world.
His teacher must have noticed how on edge Huey was because he asked Huey to stay after class.
"No homework again, Mr. Duck?"
"No," Huey muttered, staring at the stapler instead of making eye contact.
"Shame, I really want to see more from you. Is something going on at home? Perhaps I need to have a chat with your uncle."
Huey's head snapped up, anger surging through his body.
"Don't you fucking dare!" Huey snapped before he could stop himself.
"Excuse me?"
Huey stood up, panicking a little, though anger still burned in his eyes.
"Don't walk out of this room, young man, or I will call the principal."
"I'm not going to be late to my next class just because you think you're some kind of expert on my home life," Huey sneered, walking out, and, of course, landing in the principal's office.
When Uncle Donald picked him up from school, the man already looked exhausted. When Huey saw that Dewey was in the backseat with a black eye, he suddenly understood why.
"What happened?"
Dewey grunted and turned away, unusually quiet.
"He wouldn't tell me either," Donald said with a sigh, "But whatever happened, he started it."
Dewey grunted once more and then winced in pain.
"What happened to you?" Donald asked, examining Huey for any new injuries.
"I cussed out a teacher. I didn't have a good reason, I was just angry. I guess I'm suspended or whatever, but who cares? I don't want to go back." He used to love school, but now he was just so tired and angry.
Donald nodded empathetically.
"We'll talk about it more later. You look like you need rest, Hue."
"Probably. At least Louie is okay-" Just then, the phone rang.
Huey and Donald exchanged a look.
"I don't want to answer it," Donald confessed, horrified at what could have happened to his youngest.
"I can?" Huey suggested.
"No." Donald took a deep breath and then answered the phone.
Donald sighed when he heard the charges, that Louie had been caught stealing money from a teacher. While Huey had gotten off with a suspension, both of his youngest were expelled.
"Boys," Donald said when they'd picked up Louie, "I think we need to move again."
Huey felt a pit in his stomach and Dewey had already begun to protest in the backseat.
"We can't move! This is our home!"
"The houseboat is our home, you guys are my home. As long as we're together we'll be okay. You guys need to go to school and after today we're running out of options."
Louie began to cry in the backseat, not exactly surprising anyone. Donald, who had yet to even leave the elementary school parking lot, turned to look at him.
"Louie, honey, it's going to be okay. Dry your tears and think about how nice it will be to live in a new town and make new friends."
Dewey paused from his protests when Uncle Donald said that because he was right. No one would know him in the new town. Maybe Dewey would finally be able to make friends if he got away from all the petty drama.
Louie wasn't satisfied, though, continuing to cry, and it was clear after a second that these were real tears and not just theatrics.
"Louie," Huey said gently, "What's wrong?"
"What about mom? How's she supposed to find us if she comes home and we're gone?!" Louie sobbed. Huey felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. His nine-year-old brother had never even met their mom, Huey had no idea that Louie even thought about Della, much less thought she was coming home. Huey wanted to snap that their mother was never coming back but his little brothers needed comfort, so he simply shut his mouth and let Uncle Donald take this one.
Uncle Donald was floundering too. He agreed that Della coming back was one of the most important things but he couldn't say, "Just wait, I'm working on it."
He held his breath, counted to ten, and then smiled lovingly at Louie and Dewey.
"Lou, don't worry about that. She will always be able to find us, we're a family."
That seemed to satisfy Louie, and Dewey was already pacified. Donald turned toward Huey, who was digging his fingernails into his arm.
"Hue?" Donald asked gently, taking Huey's hand away from his arm.
"I have friends here. A whole life here, isn't there another option?"
"Huey, this is our best option. You're smart and friendly, you'll make new friends." Huey wanted to burst into tears, wanted to yell or hit. He wanted to lash out again. Lashing out was easy and all of this was so hard.
"I don't want new friends, I like my friends. I want to stay here. What about homeschooling? I could help teach Dewey and Louie, we'd still get an education."
"Huey, you're just a kid, I couldn't ask you to do that-"
"It would be easy, I already help them with their homework, and I don't have a job getting in the way anymore. And it would give me a chance to be more in control of my studies, too. You know I've been struggling in class, Uncle Donald. Don't you want what's best for all of us? Don't you want to keep your job?" Huey was laying it on thick. For whatever reason, maybe because he needed some semblance of control or maybe because of what Louie had said, he was desperate to stay in Duckburg.
Donald knew what Huey was doing and he was surprised that it was Huey and not Louie who was putting up the most fight.
"Fine, we'll talk about it more when we get home. But you're not doing this alone, I've asked some friends and colleagues to help me take care of you guys while I'm at work. I don't want you to feel like you have to be the adult when I'm not around. You're just a kid too, Huey."
Huey didn't want to say that sometimes he also stepped in as the adult when Donald was around. He was still angry even though he didn't want to be, but he kept his mouth shut, wondering what kind of help Donald had found.
